Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. [Illustration: HEAD OF HOMER. _British Museum._] ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS THE STORY OF TROY BY M. CLARKE NEW YORK--CINCINNATI--CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION--HOMER, THE FATHER OF POETRY 7 THE GODS AND GODDESSES 11 I. TROY BEFORE THE SIEGE 19 II. THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS 33 III. THE LEAGUE AGAINST TROY 46 IV. BEGINNING OF THE WAR 63 V. THE WRATH OF ACHILLES 76 VI. THE DREAM OF AGAMEMNON 92 VII. THE COMBAT BETWEEN MENELAUS AND PARIS 109 VIII. THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE 124 IX. THE SECOND BATTLE--EXPLOIT OF DIOMEDE AND ULYSSES 149 X. THE BATTLE AT THE SHIPS--DEATH OF PATROCLUS 166 XI. END OF THE WRATH OF ACHILLES--DEATH OF HECTOR 193 XII. DEATH OF ACHILLES--FALL AND DESTRUCTION OF TROY 220 XIII. THE GREEK CHIEFS AFTER THE WAR 240 INTRODUCTION. I. HOMER, THE FATHER OF POETRY. In this book we are to tell the story of Troy, and particularly of the famous siege which ended in the total destruction of that renowned city. It is a story of brave warriors and heroes of 3000 years ago, about whose exploits the greatest poets and historians of ancient times have written. Some of the wonderful events of the memorable siege are related in a celebrated poem called the Ilʹi-ad, written in the Greek language. The author of this poem was Hoʹmer, who was the author of another great poem, the Odʹys-sey, which tells of the voyages and adventures of the Greek hero, U-lysʹses, after the taking of Troy. Homer has been called the Father of Poetry, because he was the first and greatest of poets. He lived so long ago that very little is known about him. We do not even know for a certainty when or where he was born. It is believed, however, that he lived in the ninth century before Christ, and that his native place was Smyrʹna, in Asia Minor. But long after his death several other cities claimed the honor of being his birthplace. Seven Grecian cities vied for Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread. LEONIDAS.